Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au
Qld murder trial hears wife a shopaholic
A Gold Coast man on trial for his “shopaholic” wife’s murder told police investigating her disappearance she wanted half his assets and a cut of his company.
August 29, 2019
A Gold Coast man accused of murdering his wife told police investigating her disappearance she was a “narcissistic shopaholic” who wanted half his assets, a court has heard.
Novy Chardon, 34, went missing on February 6, 2013 amid a bitter divorce dispute with her 71-year-old husband, John William Chardon.
The mother of two’s body has never been found.
More than six years after she disappeared, Chardon is fighting a murder charge in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
The court has heard Chardon told detectives who questioned him his wife wanted a 50-50 split of their assets after receiving legal advice.
“She told me she’d (also) get a share of (my) company,” he says during the interview recorded 22 days after Ms Chardon disappeared.
Ms Chardon also wanted a cut of her husband’s $600,000 investment in a quarry and superannuation but Chardon said it was never going to happen.
“(The lawyer) said she was entitled to a 50-50 but that’s just the lawyer,” he said.
Chardon described his wife as a “shopaholic” who was “as narcissistic as they come”.
The jury has heard the couple wed in 2000 and the first years of their marriage were “perfect”.
It began to fall apart around 2009, when Ms Chardon told a friend her husband was having an affair.
They separated in 2012 but continued to live together while both were having affairs.
The trial continues on Thursday.